Social Media, Social Life

SOCIAL MEDIA SOCIAL LIFE HOW TEENS VIEW THEIR DIGITAL LIVES Ninety percent of America's teens have used social media, and the majority of them believe it's a more positive than negative influence. But many say they're "addicted" to their devices and that they want to disconnect sometimes. Teens also say that talking in person is better than texting, and face-to-face conversations are more fun than communicating online. Teens tell us: IT'S A DAILY DIGITAL DIET- WE LOVE OUR SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MEDIA! EVERY DAY, WE: Text Visit social Send or networking sites receive tweets 68% 51% f 11% 75% 23% 68% 6% 1% OF US HAVE A OF US USE AT LEAST 8+ PROFILE ON A SOCIAL TWO DIFFERENT NETWORKING SITE. OUR MAIN SITE IS: TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA EVERYDAY SOCIAL NETWORKING MAKES US FEEL BETTER THAN WORSE We feel that social networking helps our relationships with friends (52%) and family (37%) vs. hurts our relationships with friends (4%) and family (2%). And it makes us feel less shy (29%) and more confident (20%) vs. more shy (3%) and less confident (4%). Only 5% of us believe that social networking makes us feel more depressed vs. 10% who feel less depressed. WE PREFER FACE TIME TO SCREEN TIME Talking in person is our favorite way to communicate because it's more fun and easier to understand what other people mean. If we can't do that, we text. Very few of us prefer social networking as our go-to way to connect, and many of us believe that using social media can interfere with face-to-face communication. TALK TO ME! WE HAVE A BAD CONNECTION... Our favorite way to communicate is: Many of us believe that using social media: Takes away from time we can spend with others face to face (34%) IN PERSON (49%) BY TEXT (33%) Distracts us from the people we're with (44%) ON SOCIAL NETWORKS (7%) Creates frustration when our friends BY PHONE (4%) pay more attention to their gadgets than to us (45%) ON TWITTER (1%) "I enjoy seeing [my friends] laugh at my jokes." "It's boring to talk to someone that has to check Facebook every 5 minutes." "Moments only happen in person" SOMETIMES WE GET TIRED OF BEING WIRED Many of us sometimes wish that we - and the people around us – would disconnect. It's not just about being tired of technology; it turns out that many of us who talk about tuning out have encountered some derogatory digital dialogue. 36% of us sometimes wish we could go back to a time when there was no Facebook. More than a third of us who want to unplug often encounter racist, sexist, and homophobic content. "Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and relax with no way possible to communicate with anyone in any way. That's why I occasionally 'lose' my cell phone." "Technology and social networking have absorbed some of my close friendships, and they've dwindled. I miss the times where we could just go hang out and laugh." 41% of us consider ourselves "addicted" to our phones, and 20% to social sites. 43% of us sometimes wish we could "unplug," and 21% wish our parents would, too. SOCIAL MEDIA, SOCIAL LIFE: IT'S NOT GENDER NEUTRAL Every day, more teen girls than teen boys text. In the daily Twitter-verse, there are also more girls than boys, and when it comes to photo posting, it's especially a girl thing...but not always a good thing. 77% TEXT DAILY 60% TEXT DAILY 33% EVER TWEETED 22% EVER TWEETED A 75% LOVE POSTING PHOTOS 42% LOVE POSTING PHOTOS For girls, especially, putting their pictures online can be stressful: 57% girls vs. 28% boys sometimes feel left out after seeing photos of others together online 45% girls vs. 24% boys worry about other people posting ugly photos of them online 28% girls vs. 9% boys have edited photos of themselves before posting Source: Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives This report is based on a nationally representative survey of 1,030 13-to 17-year-olds. For a full discussion of the methodology and a copy of the toplines, see the full report at www.commonsense.org/research The survey was conducted online for Common Sense Media by Knowledge Networks: A GIK Company in February and March, 2012. Parental or legal guardian consent was collected for the purpose of conducting surveys with teenage panel members. common sense © Common Sense Media 2012. All Rights Reserved. Common Sense Media is committed to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology. Join us on Facebook or Twitter, and get our free iPhone App. media